1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical fiber retainer used to couple an optical fiber to an optical communication module.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, optical communication modules include light emitting modules, light receiving modules, and connector modules.
A light emitting module, which integrates a laser diode, a lens, and an optical fiber, gathers laser beams emitted from the laser diode by the lens and optically couples them within the optical fiber.
A light receiving module is constructionally the same as the above described light emitting module, except that it includes a photodiode instead of the laser diode of the light emitting module. Laser beams emitted from the optical fiber are gathered by the lens and received in the photodiode disposed at the focus position thereof.
A connector module, which is different from the light emitting module and the light receiving module in that it does not include a laser diode nor a photodiode, simply couples optical fibers. Optical communication modules which enable optical fibers to be inserted and removed are called receptacle-type ones.
In receptacle-type optical communication modules, stable output of laser beams to optical fibers requires accurate positioning of the optical axes of optical fibers with respect to the position at which to couple the light beams.